The far right may be in a frenzy attacking the student anti-gun activists of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, but outside that little world, those teenagers and others who’ve risen up to lead protests nationwide are pretty popular. Especially in comparison with the National Rifle Association.
The high school students receive a positive 56/34 favorability rating for their efforts, while the NRA is upside down with 39% of voters seeing it favorably and 44% negatively.
That’s according to a new poll from Public Policy Polling, which also finds widespread support for stronger gun laws:
There’s 87% support for background checks for all gun buyers, compared to only 8% of voters who are opposed to that. That policy has the backing of 89% of Democrats and 85% of Republicans and independents. It’s hard to find anything 87% of Americans agree on- in fact on this same poll we found that only 81% think the sky is blue with 11% disputing that notion.
We also found 64/26 support for a ban on assault weapons, again with bipartisan agreement. Democrats (78/15), independents (61/25), and Republicans (49/40) are all in agreement. In general 60% of voters say they want stronger gun laws to 32% who are opposed.
But Republicans remain fully committed to the unpopular side of this equation: the NRA and lax gun laws.